On Short Tail Shearwaters

From Griffith Island where they lived their first day
The short tail shearwaters are now far away
Above the deep southern ocean far from the nearest land shore
From their birthplace five thousand kilometers
Born in sandy burrows in Griffith Island Port Fairy birds destined to fly
Above the southern ocean through thousands of miles of sky
To Griffith Island in late September they will return to breed
How they find their way back home another mystery of Nature indeed
Their first five months spent in nesting burrows where some of the parent birds and chicks to predators fall prey
But their large numbers insure their survival security in numbers as some well might say
The short tail shearwaters or muttonbirds are one of the same
Since muttonbirds for their chicks is another name
When in Griffith Island they were taken by humans for their meat
But nowadays it is only predators mainly foxes that do kill them to eat